head to head · open source
n8n vs open-claude-cowork
n8n has 204,887 GitHub stars, 60,739 forks, 1,143 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-claude-cowork has 4,359 stars, 735 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. n8n leads on adoption by 4,600% (204,887 vs 4,359 stars). n8n is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; open-claude-cowork is written in JavaScript under MIT. n8n has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, open-claude-cowork 17%. n8n was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| n8n | open-claude-cowork | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 205K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 61K | ⑂ 735 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick n8n if
- You weight community size — 205K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick open-claude-cowork if
- You want the open-claude-cowork feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and open-claude-cowork fits your workflow better
About n8n
n8n is a visual workflow automation platform built in TypeScript that combines a drag and drop editor with custom code execution. It lives in the integration and automation ecosystem, positioned as an open alternative to proprietary services like Zapier. Users design multi step workflows—called “n8n flows”—that connect apps, services, and custom logic to automate repetitive tasks.
About open-claude-cowork
Open Claude Cowork is an open source JavaScript desktop chat application in the Electron, Node.js, and Anthropic Claude ecosystem. It uses the Claude Agent SDK, Composio Tool Router, and MCP, and includes Secure Clawdbot for messaging platforms.
read the full open-claude-cowork overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is n8n or open-claude-cowork more popular?
n8n has 204,887 GitHub stars and open-claude-cowork has 4,359. n8n has the larger community by that measure.
Are n8n and open-claude-cowork free?
Both are open source. n8n has no licence declared in this registry, and open-claude-cowork is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between n8n and open-claude-cowork?
n8n is written in TypeScript and open-claude-cowork in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, n8n or open-claude-cowork?
Choose n8n if you want the larger community (204,887 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose open-claude-cowork if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.